Working Hard

Famiglia!

 

This week has been a good week in Modena, the first week of this transfer. Anziano Kimball is still adjusting to being District Leader but he's doing a great job, he's a stud missionary. Today we had interviews and training stuff in Verona so that was cool, I should be going there on a scambio tomorrow or so. The work here in Modena is doing very well, we are basically going through our massive list of contacts we've gotten from talking to tons of people and finding out who is really interested. The other day we had a cool experience where we had about an hour free so we went to this park type area. We talked to the first person we saw sitting on a bench and he was super cool, a guy named Degraft from Ghana. We taught him a little lesson and got his info, so we're hoping to keep that going. Then, we biked like 20 feet to the next bench, and had another awesome little lesson with these two Peruvians! Their names are Amelia and Giorgio, Giorgio doesn't really speak Italian but we were able to throw some Spanish in there to help him understand. Thank you MHS for your four years of Spanish classes! They are really cool and we met them again in the park a couple of days later to give them each a copy of the BoM in Spanish. Anziano Kimball has a Spanish Preach My Gospel so we are working on getting the baptismal invite in Spanish for them haha. We also knocked into a kid named Michael the other day, also from Ghana. He is really interested but his Dad is really not interested to put it lightly, so we can't really teach him. But! He turns 18 on May 5, so we may re-start teaching him then. Also, keep praying for Israel to find work so he can come to church on Sunday, or just that he can put his faith in the Lord and come to church anyway!

 

I love this missionary work of helping bring people to Christ! We taught a lesson about parables to a recent convert the other week and it was really cool to learn about what a master teacher Christ was. Even from simple stories of stuff we can learn great and fundamental principles. It is truly refreshing how simple the gospel is! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it helps us become so much closer to Christ. I know that everyone on the earth is a child of God, with a Father who loves them unconditionally no matter what experiences we have on earth. Affliction is just an opportunity to show our love back!

 

Ciao!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

P.S. Also, happy birthday to Kevin! I wrote it down in my planner so I wouldn't forget to write in the email! Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours! Also I'm sending a present home for him.